Stop Procrastination

A Neuro-Linguist ic Programming Overview of The Phenomena of

Procrast inat ion - or - How to Change the Mental Imagery that Causes You

to Feel Bad Whi le Delaying Act ion

by Michael J. Emery, M.A., C.Ht. , M.NLP

Version 1.0 June 27, 2010

About Michael J. Emery

Michael J. Emery has a Master of Arts from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology and a Bachelor of Arts in Marketing and Advertising Management from Portland State University. Additionally, Michael is certified as a hypnotherapist and a trainer of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP).

In 2001, Michael began to study communication and human behavior, eventually leading him to various communication models including Ericksonian Hypnosis and NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming). These models demonstrate the unconscious decision-making processes necessary for Personal Development - by design.

Michael believes that we can change how we interact with other people by realizing we process information differently; we have unique maps of the world that we perceive as our individual realities (and sometimes mistakenly believe that others have the same perceptions). The more quickly we realize this, and learn how to communicate with others through their way of understanding the world about them, the more quickly we can resolve many of the challenges currently facing humanity.

If you have had a positive experience with Michael's personal development programs then talk about it with the people you care about and encourage them to also experience new ways to perceive old challenges.

www.michael jemery.com

http://www.michaeljemery.com


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Table of contents

....................................Unconscious Solutions 4

...................................What Would Milton Do? 6

..................................What is Procrastination? 7

............................Reasons for Procrastination 8

....................................................................Fear 9

................................................Belief Systems 10

...............................................................Values 12

.............................................................Identity 15

.......................................................Perception 17

..................................................Submodalities 20

.......................................Perceptual Positions 22

...........................Temporal and Spatial Shifts 23

...........................................Perpetual Change 25

Put Off Procrast inat ion




Unconscious Solutions

If procrastination were a conscious-level problem then a person would be able to logically reason his or her way out of procrastinating, right?

Rarely does this seem to be the case. Procrastination is a largely unconscious process and the way to communicate with the unconscious mind is through symbols and imagery. Language, when used with precision, is a powerful way to change the perception of an experience.

There is an expression in the Ericksonian hypnosis field that “ all hypnosis is self-hypnosis.” The reasoning behind this is that no one but you is responsible for controlling and generating the internal representations through which you are perceiving the world. At best, you can be given suggestions but even those suggestions will have to be filtered through your “map of the world” or paradigm.

The point of this document is to demonstrate how much control you actually have over your perception of reality and experience. The moment that you accept full control over your perceptions, your emotions, your mindset, and your actions you will have begun to access the resources you need in order to leave procrastination behind. Keep in mind that, like most things, this too is a process...

With practice and self-awareness, very soon you will unsurprisingly find that the behaviors that used to hold you back have been replaced with proactive actions and decisions that propel you forward - toward what you want by design. Until you reach that point in your life when it is




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effortless - you have the Put Off Procrastination audio program as a resource to hold a space for you to pay close attention to the changes that are occurring within...

Remember, the reason why the Put Off Procrastination audio program has been so successful is because it creates an environment in which the listeners can slow down time and space and perceive through various perspectives the challenges that were holding them back from what they desire to experience.

Furthermore, it is only useful when applied... If you havenʼt yet, then I encourage you to use the Put Off Procrastination audio program either in the form of the mobile phone app that this document was designed to include or as a stand-alone audio file.





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What Would Milton Do?

I want to begin with an anecdotal story shared by Dr. Milton Erickson in the book My Voice Will Go With You. According to one of the metaphorical stories that the psychiatrist / hypnotherapist Dr. Erickson was famous for, he tells about the Tarahumara Indians of southwestern Chihuahua who are the ones who can

run 100 miles without their blood pressure going up or a significant change in their heartbeat.

Upon learning this, an entrepreneur brought some of the hundred-mile runners to the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam. Those runners didnʼt even place in the event, because according to the Tarahumara Indians they thought 25 miles was when they were just getting warmed up.

No one had thought to explain to them that their run was only a total of 25 miles...

Dr. Erickson recounts that “...I sometimes think about that story when Iʼm having difficulty getting into a task, when Iʼm writing, repairing something on the house, frustrated by difficulties, or literally breathless from jogging. The phrase will come into my head -- ʻI am just warming up now.ʼ I usually find more energy available after this.”1



1 Rosen, Sidney, My Voice Will Go With You, (New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 1982), 112-113



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What is Procrastination?

The word procrastinate comes from the Latin word procrastinatus: pro- (forward) and crastinus (of tomorrow).2 Essentially, the perpetual forwarding of tomorrow, which could potentially last indefinitely unless a catalyst pushes an individual into action.

Procrastination is the counterproductive, continual postponing of actions or decisions to a later time. Some psychologists have thought that procrastination is a behavior mechanism for coping with anxiety associated with decision-making. According to the research done by Schraw, Wadkins, and Olafson, procrastination is defined by these three components: a behavior that is counterproductive, needless, and delaying.3

Often, procrastination results in stress and guilt. Additionally, procrastinating also reduces an individualʼs productivity both personally and professionally. Further ramifications of procrastination may include social exclusion or labeling as an individual who does not fulfill responsibilities or commitments.



2 Procrastination. Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition (1989)

3 Schraw, G., Wadkins, T., & Olafson, L. (2007). Doing the things we do: A grounded theory of academic

procrastination [Electronic version]. Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol 99(1), 12-25.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin



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Reasons for Procrastination

I believe that there are an infinite number of reasons why an individual might procrastinate. My perspective on this subject might be slightly different than others who have attempted to help “procrastinators” to change their behavior.

I view procrastination from two different perspectives: conscious-level behavior and unconscious-level behavior.

In a few seconds, as you continue reading, you will learn conscious-level reasons and logical explanations as to why someone might procrastinate. You may already be aware of these reasons, or you might find that many of them just make sense based upon your personal observations or experiences. However, understanding the problem will likely do little to resolve procrastination for you or give you resources to manage it in the future.

Most problems occur on an unconscious level, and this is why conscious-level reasoning rarely resolves the problem. Logical understanding might share insights into the origin and nature of the problem, but it does not change learned behavior.

I believe that as you continue to read, you will find that emotions such as fear, your belief system / paradigm, your values, self-identity, and perception all play into your experiences of procrastination.





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Fear

When it comes to procrastination, fear is rarely involved because fear is an in-the-moment response to oneʼs environment. Instead of the word “fear”, why not substitute the term “anxiety”? Since, anxiety is imagining negative future outcomes.

Here is where it gets really interesting from a physiological perspective, a personʼs mind/body cannot distinguish the difference between fear and anxiety, because both result in varying degrees of the fight or flight response by your nervous system.

When it comes to fear being an underlying reason for procrastination, it might be better referred to as anxiety surrounding the hypothetical thoughts of failure. Although, counterintuitively, procrastination might also be resulting from anxiety regarding the thoughts of success. In my opinion, this ties into an individualʼs belief system and identity.

Additionally, there may even be thoughts of losing personal autonomy (freedom), being alone, or becoming overly attached to people or an outcome. Procrastination can serve as a means to keep people and commitments distant. It might be an apprehension of the unknown. There may even be something you can think of that Iʼve not yet mentioned because there are numerous possibilities... What matters is determining your perception of the event that is causing procrastination.





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Belief Systems

In the field of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), an individualʼs belief system or paradigm is often metaphorically refer to as oneʼs map of the world.

Neuro- linguistic programming is the study of subjective experience and how components of a system are organized to create patterns of activity and/or behavior resulting from the way language affects the mind.

Think back for a moment... Your entire life you have been experiencing external events happening in the world around you. In fact, right now in this room, there is so much information that your mind has to ignore and filter the majority because your mind/body is only capable of focusing upon +/- 7 bits of information (1 bit of information is every unique object interacting with your nervous system).

You perceive these through your five senses, yet this information is continuously being generalized, distorted, and deleted through your filters for time, space, language, memories, decision-making strategies, personality types, values and beliefs, and your attitude. This is your internal representation of everything and we will examine this in further detail in the Perception section.

Your mind is processing every event in the form of internal imagery, self-talk, kinesthetic feelings, tastes and smells. These all, to varying degrees, are having an effect upon your physiology - even right now as you are reading. Your





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internal representation affects your physiology which affects your emotion state and mindset, in turn affecting your behavior. This is what determines your actions.

When you understand this, you can begin to perceive how it is is possible to think and react to something which may not have actually happened the way you thought it happened...

Belief systems have a tremendous impact upon our abilities to effectively communicate with other people, and perhaps more importantly, with ourselves.

For the majority of people, beliefs are unconsciously borrowed and assumed. A major catalyst in your personal development is re-evaluating the origin of your belief system; letting go of limiting beliefs and creating empowering ones.

According to NLP developer, Robert Dilts,

# ...beliefs and values form the answer to the question # ʻWhy?ʼ Values are characterized by a felt sense of # meaning or desirability. Beliefs are cognitive structures # which connect values to other aspects of our # experiences.

# Beliefs are essentially judgments and evaluations about # ourselves, others and the world around us... Beliefs are # the answers to questions such as, ʻHow, specifically, # do you define the quality or entity you value?ʼ 4

Beliefs connect values to various aspects of our unique experiences.



4 Robert Dilts, From Coach to Awakener (Capitola, CA: Meta Publications), 129



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Values

Values are the filters through which we process our experiences. Often values are nominalizations - they are abstractions of a process. For example, the value courage is a nominalization of the process of acting courageously. Likewise, love

is a normalization of the experience of loving, or bored is the nominalization of the process of boring.

Values are our unconscious blueprints guiding us how to act and determining what we perceive as meaningful. I encourage you to try this yourself - think of common value keywords (e.g., love, honesty, integrity, freedom, etc.) and use them in a sentence while speaking with someone. The personʼs physiology will shift (body language) when you say one of their values. This person might smile, uncross their arms, flush around their cheeks, pupils dilate, etc.

When you pay attention to what most people overlook you will enhance your ability to communicate. Keep in mind, communication is a tool and can be used to inflict harm or positively impact others - how you use it is indicative of your values.

Values are also synesthesias.

A synesthesia is a crossing or blending of the senses. In the field of NLP, a synesthesia differs from the





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psychological or psychiatric use of the term. Academically, the term has been used in reference to scenarios such as a person being able to hear the color blue, or distinguish the note C# from a C. In NLP, a synesthesia is when one of the five senses blends into another sense making it nearly impossible to separate the two senses.

Most of us have the experience of seeing someone who has an angry look on his face and then feeling a sensation in your stomach or your chests that you might refer to as fear. This is a synesthesia. And, here is the way I could turn the synesthesia into a strategy or a diagram:

Essentially, this little diagram could represents the external visual sight of someone, hearing something in your head (the other personʼs voice or your own - like in the case of attraction “Oh, s/he is cute!”), and the process results in a positive kinesthetic feeling in your body. But, it





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happens so quickly that in just nanoseconds the sight of that person causes you to feel something. This is a synesthesia in the field of NLP.

It happens all the time. People see a boss or an ex-lover and they feel bad in their bodies. They hear a stern parentʼs voice (real, imagined or remembered) and they feel bad.

This can even be more complicated like seeing someone, feeling bad, then thinking to yourself how stupid you were for being involved with that person, making pictures in your mind by remember that disastrous vacation, and then feeling even worse... Yes, we do it to ourselves!

In this case, values are also synesthesias because they are words that are tied into our internal representations. And, they are also simultaneously linked to a kinesthetic sensation. In the context of values, the word love feels differently than the word hate, doesnʼt it? If it doesnʼt, then how do you know the difference between the two...?

Understanding synesthias is an important part of taking control of procrastination. Now you will know when you experience a synesthesia, wonʼt you?





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Identity

Who are you? This is a philosophical question that has existed since the dawn of time...

I want to refer to the work of Steve Andreas, a modeler and developer in the field of NLP, specifically his insights on identity as noted in Six Blind Elephants.

Steve makes the point that any statement that a person makes about themselves is self-referential. Identity issues: # ... are always self-referential, since the speaker is both # the subject and the object of the description, and a # statement about myself is both the categorization of # myself, and also an example of the categorization.

# If this kind of self-referential statement is negated, that # creates paradox. ʻI can never succeed,ʼ ʻI canʼt ever do # anything right,ʼ ʻI hate everything about myself,ʼ [ʻI " always procrastinateʼ] are examples of common # troubling identity statements that are paradoxical.

# This kind of statement is often quite unpleasant, not # only because it is so limiting, but also because it is so # universal, ʻ I can never succeed.ʻ This kind of statement # creates an apparently inescapable and depressing # categorization of the self. However, when we realize itʼs # paradoxical structure, that can be used to escape the # trap.





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# For instance, if someone believes that they ʻcan never # succeed,ʼ that statement must apply to itself. Since the # statement is an example of ʻnever succeeding,ʼ it is a # statement that can never succeed, and this changes its # meaning. If it is an unsuccessful statement, it shouldnʼt # be taken too seriously, prying open the door of the # trap.5

In light of the example made by Steve Andreas, if you have identified as a procrastinator in the past, this is a self referential statement.

I will do my best to simplify how this might apply to you:

“If youʼre such a good procrastinator, then why donʼt you procrastinate when it comes to procrastination...?”

This said, why donʼt you consider the following points and see if your identity is still congruent with being a procrastinator.

1. When did you not procrastinate in spite of that belief that you always do?

2. When have you done something important on time? (Sometimes, there is that tendency to be overly difficult - if you canʼt think of something you did not procrastinate about then Iʼm sure the last time you used the toilet you made it there in time... sometimes it helps to oversimplify, especially for the smart people)

3. How will your life be different when youʼve learned how to deal with that old procrastination challenge?



5 Steve Andreas, Six Blind Elephants: Understanding Ourselves and Each Other, Volume II Applications and Explorations of Scope and Category (Moab, UT: Real People Press), 159



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Perception

Perception is reality.

At least if you perceive it that way...

Perception is a nominalization. Perception is the process of perceiving. Perceiving implies a flux; continual change being observed.

In all of the information that Iʼve read and researched on the topic of procrastination, the majority of authors leave out critical information concerning the process involved in procrastinating. As if procrastination were experienced the same by everyone...

The statement “I procrastinate” involves generalization, nominalization, distortion, and deletion. Procrastination means many different things to different people. Even as youʼre reading this now, you have your own internal representation of what it means to procrastinate.

In fact, what I have found is that most solutions to procrastination involve addressing the internal representation of an individualʼs experience. However, few authors delve into the topic of internal representation -- perhaps this is because they are unaware of the theory of the internal representation?





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Some common advice on how to stop procrastinating typically espouses that procrastination is a sign that youʼre not committed... Or, that the activity does not have enough priority... Or, you donʼt know enough to do the task... Or, the one I like the most, you just donʼt want to...!

The traditional, milquetoast advice overlooks the fact that individuals have a unique perception of the experience about which they are procrastinating. And, more importantly how that event is coded into their mind/body as an internal representation.

Do you remember the map of the world concept? This directly ties into what is known as the Universal Modeling Process in NLP. here is a representation of what this might look like:





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On the universal modeling process image did you notice the part of the diagram that said internal representation? Here is where something very interesting is occurring.

An individualʼs internal representation system It is based upon the five senses (visual, auditory, kinesthetic, gustatory, and olfactory). The representational system has the following characteristics6:

1. Each representational system can best represent the aspect of the world that a response to directly (visual - visually recalled or imagined internal imagery; kinesthetic - kinesthetically recalled or imagined feelings)

2. Visual can represent an enormous amount of data simultaneously and instantaneously

3. Kinesthetic is the primary way that people evaluated experience

4. Auditory can emphasize and help clarify raw data

Now, consider describing scenario in which you would feel tempted to procrastinate. Keep in mind the information above and notice the different components of your scenario that are visual, kinesthetic, and auditory.

The next important part of deconstructing the way that you have been procrastinating is becoming aware of the submodalities involved in your internal representation of procrastination.



6 Representational System Characteristics © 1987 Wyatt Woodsmall



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Submodalities

As you are learning to monitor and control your internal representation, you will find it very important to become aware of the distinct submodalities of every internal experience. A submodality is the context of the finer details

of an experience, not the content.

For example, you might recall a beautiful sunset. Or, you might recall a brilliant, fiery-red, sinking sun stretching panoramically across your vision just as your significant other lovingly whispers something in your right ear causing your heart to beat even more quickly... Which example lends itself more to exploring the context? Here is a list of potential submodalities for each representational system (5 senses - in the case of procrastination we will focus upon only 3 senses):

Visual1. Location (where is image located)2. Dissociated (see self in picture)3. Associated (looking through own eyes)4. Framed





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5. Color6. Size of Picture7. Size of Central Objects8. 3-D or Flat9. Intensity of Color10. Focus (All or Parts)

Auditory1. Location (where is the origin of the sound)2. Tonality3. Volume4. Tempo5. Pitch6. Cadence7. Rhythm8. Inflections9. Pauses10. Timbre11. Uniqueness 12. Direction13. Duration14. Internal or External

Kinesthetic1. Location (where specifically do you feel it)2. Shape3. Size4. Temperature5. Movement6. Texture7. Vibration8. Pressure9. Duration10. Steady or Intermittent11. Intensity12. Weight





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Perceptual Positions

Dissociated: You “see” (imagine/remember) yourself in the experience. This is powerful for making an experience less intense.

Associated: You “see” (imagine/remember) the experience as through your own eyes. This typically makes an experience more intense.





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Temporal and Spatial Shifts

I find it very interesting that linguistically we can use words that approximate closeness and distance in both space and time. This is a technique developed by NLP trainer John Overdurf7 and I use it in the Put Off Procrastination audio program.

Do you remember nominalizations? The linguistic abstractions of a process. I shared the following examples: the value courage is a nominalization of the process of acting courageously. Likewise, love is a normalization of the experience of loving, or bored is the nominalization of the process of boring.

If there is an experience that is unpleasant and you want to reduce the way it “negatively feels” (procrastination?). Think about it as you read through the following temporal and spatial shifts in consciousness while substituting the word “procrastination”.

Dissociation:

• That [procrastination] youʼve felt• That [procrastination] feeling youʼve had• That [procrastination] you were feeling• That [procrastination] youʼve been feeling



7 Temporal and Spatial Shifts in Consciousness for Tele-Coaching © 2006 John Overdurf



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• That [procrastination] you are feeling • That [procrastination] you will have felt

Did you notice a sensation of moving either through time or space, or both, as you read through those phrases? Try substituting another nominalization that you do not want (e.g., fear - process of fearing)?

Now consider an experience that is pleasant and you want to turn up the pleasant sensations. Think about this as you read through the following temporal and spatial shift in consciousness.

Association:

• This [motivation] feeling youʼve felt• This [motivation] feeling youʼve had• This [motivation] feeling you had• This [motivation] you are feeling• This [motivation] youʼve been feeling• This [motivation] you are feeling• This [motivation] youʼll be feeling• This [motivation] you will feel• This [motivation] youʼll have been feeling• This [motivation] you will have felt

Did you notice a sensation of moving either through time or space, or both, as you read through those phrases? Try substituting another nominalization that you do want (e.g., love - process of loving)?

Changing the language you use will greatly affect your perception of that old process of procrastinating as it is becoming less and less of an issue every day...





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Perpetual Change

In the human body cell tissue is constantly being renewed. Some cells last a few days and others may last years. Research indicates that possibly all cells - except for a select few cell types in the brain and the heart - are recycled. The

perception many people have might be to:

# ...think of their body as a fairly permanent structure, # most of it is in a state of constant flux as old cells are # discarded and new ones generated in their place. Each # kind of tissue has its own turnover time, depending in # part on the workload endured by its cells. The cells # lining the stomach, as mentioned, last only five days. # The red blood cells, bruised and battered after traveling # nearly 1,000 miles through the maze of the body's # circulatory system, last only 120 days or so on average # before being dispatched to their graveyard in the # spleen.8

This is a metaphor on many different levels. You do change... consistently and on time.

Remember, all you are is change and no matter what you believe you are - you are always

more than just this...BE AMAZING



8 Wade. N. (2005. August 3)Your body is younger than you think. Retrieved June 26. 2010. from Rutland

Herald: http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050803/NEWS/508030317/1028



http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050803/NEWS/508030317/1028

http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050803/NEWS/508030317/1028

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